The Free Dwarves of Bowland have many friends and Allies ( and some Enemies) All will be featured in this Blog alongside the development of the Free Dwarf Army.
This First such post is about the Mahou Ogre Tribe's recent trip to Malaga for the Regional de Andalucía - Kings of War Tournament.
Two Years ago we traveled to Madrid to take part in the First Spanish Clash of Kings and after collecting the Wooden Spoon for last place I came home determined to improve my performance and also to have a Mantic Army to use. One of the Spanish players I faced used Ogres and gave me a copy of his list and so the Mahou Tribe Ogres were born , named for our favourite Beer in Madrid :)
The Intrepid Wargamers in Madrid
Fast Forward two Years to the preparation for our Malaga trip , The Ogre list I use is pretty standard and has remained relatively unchanged since the start of Third Edition.
The Siegebreakers do all the heavy lifting , supported by Boomers to protect the flanks and ward off flyers , Army Standard Bearers hold up the line , Warlock de-chaffs stuff with lightening bolts and then harries warmachines and the Bullies and Goblins wander about causing mischief. The Goblin Blaster is a fun addition to the army and generally wanders around trying to find a juicy flank to attack. Plenty of practise has been had and so the Ogres were as prepared as they could be and were 99% Mantic ( only one model is not :) )
We spent a couple of Days prior to the Tournament getting to know the area and acclimatizing to the weather , its hard work preparing for these overseas events !
The Day of the Tournament dawned and we got up nice and early to have breakfast. a delightful walk to the bus stop accompanied by the squawking of Parrakeets and a lovely blue sky was followed by a short bus trip to the venue , a large sports complex in a suburb of Malaga.
We registered with the organisers and met up with all of our Spanish friends before embarking on our tournament.
Game 1
That's me in the middle of the shot in the Blue polo shirt
The first game of my weekend was against the Salamanders of Israel Lopez, I have played Israel before at the CoK Espana and he is a very nice opponent , his army contained three Slashers and 2 Hordes of Tyrants , troop types I had not faced before and so I deployed with some trepidation. The Scenario was Pillage.
The game started slowly as both of us maneuvered units into objective grabbing positions whilst avoiding straying into charge range of each other , with my centre consisting solidly of Siegebreakers Israel was wary of committing too early. My goblins cleared his weak laft flank but his centre and right advanced stolidly. several sharp fights occurred which went in Israels favour due to his Pathfinder abundance , but then a failed attempt by two slashers on a Boomer horde paved the way for a counter attack, very quicky the Siegebreakers took out the Slashers , Tyrants and ancients in several swift combats. the Bullies tied up the Battle Captain for a few turns but didn't kill him. After the dust settled the scenario was a draw but my higher kill points mean't a 12- 8 in my favour. Off to a good Start !
Game 2
My second opponent of the day was Eduardo Jose Palacios with his Undead force. Eduardo was one of the local Malaga players that had rallied to the cause despite not having played at many tournaments before , but he was a canny opponent with a tough army.
Lots of firepower and fast moving flankers with tarpit zombies and the scary Soul Reaver infantry made the Mahou quail , but they girded their loins and proceeded to engage in the Raze scenario.
Eduardo set up a strong infantry battleline with cavalry troops on the flanks and one in the centre with Catapults behind, on zombie regiment was way out on the right flank as I had placed a token there in the hope of an easy pick up , LOL.
The Mahou were slighty right of centre with a Goblin Fleabag Sniff troop facing off the Zombies on the left and with a bully on each flank. The right flank bolstered by the Goblin Blaster.
The game started with the Mahou advancing into a storm of Balefire missiles which luckily came close to wavering 2 hordes but didn't. the ogres threw themselves into combat with zombies and luckily the Double charge removed the horde. The Ogres then proceeded to roll up the undead battleline from the right with the Sniff troop bravely eliminating the Zombie regiment after 5 turns of shooting to then advance and claim the counter. although the Soul Reaver infantry did their best to even things out by destroying two Siegebreaker hordes one on one ! result was a win to me but attrition points made it a 14-6 only.
Game 3
Game 3 was played against Jesus Santiago and his gorgeous Basilean Army ( it went on to win best painted of the Tournament) as seen above. lovely colours and great modelling on the bases , my favourite is the Panther Lancer falling off her mount into a stream ....Splash ! )
The Army list was
The Scenario was Control and Jesus had a lot of scoring unit so my plan was to avoid the Knight Horde and concentrate on the other units. For once my plan worked , I managed to inflict 2 lucky wavers on Jesus ( Knights and Ogre palace guard despite their Headstrong) and theSiegebreakers did their thing on the infantry , the berserker bullies saw off the Elohi (!) and the Boomers did for the Gur Panthers. at the end of the game I won 4-3 on scenario points but again lost more than my opponent ( Bloody heal and Iron resolve) so it was another 14-6 victory to me. I was now in contention for a place in the top 5 ! onto game 4
Game 4
My opponent in game four was Raul Hilara , as soon as I saw the draw I knew I had a hard fight ahead , Raul is the Spanish National Champion and having watched him play at several tourneys with his Empire of Dust , I knew he was the Master of Surge and then when it was announced that the scenario was Invade the feeling got worse.
This game was no exception, Raul's consumate skill and the synergy between the various parts of his army allowed him to shrug off multiple Ogre attacks with ease , coupled with my sudden inability to roll higher than 5 for nerve checks in 2 critical turns let to my army being tabled , thats right , not an Ogre or Goblin left on the board. but I had killed enough of Rauls Army to make it a 19-1 defeat as opposed to a 20-0. Thus resulting in me placing 19th out of 36 and Raul came 4th , I will have my revenge ! perhaps a challenge at Clash of Kings or Britcon if he attends ?
The rest of our time in Malaga was spent sightseeing with two of our Spanish Tournament friends David and Joaquim
All of our opponents were fantastic , We cannot apologize enough for our poor Spanish and everybody made sure we were made very welcome . If you get the chance to attend a Kings of War Tournament in Spain , take it , You will not regret it !
Malaga , We will be Back !